A sitemap, as defined by Wikipedia is: “A site map (or sitemap) is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users. It can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for Web design, or a Web page that lists the pages on a Web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion.” A sitemap provides guidance for visitors to a website who want to know about the website structure and the services provided on that website. In some cases, the sitemap is also referred to as a site index. This is the case with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) website. The USPTO site index link is displayed on the very bottom of the website. This is also a very common location for the sitemap or site index link; it is usually delegated to the bottom of a page.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a print screen of a sitemap 100 for the website www.weather.com (The Weather Channel), according to the known art. A look at this sitemap 100 provides quite a bit of information about what is available on the website, much more so than the information revealed in the menu bar 120.
Clearly, a sitemap is a good reference for a user who wants to know what a website can offer. When one considers that sitemaps are so commonly found in websites and also considering how much information they can provide, they are relatively unappealing and even meaningless to users.
There is a need for a system and method that provides a more meaningful and richer user experience in navigating a sitemap.